Another Tour de France Rider Derailed for Steroids

The people behind the Tour de France don’t play around. They are hell-bent on cleaning up the sport of cycling and have done a pretty good job of it this summer. Another competitor has been arrested and thrown out of the race following a positive test for performance-enhancing drugs.

Moises Duenas Nevado of Spain tested positive for EPO, setting of a chain of events that resulted in his imprisonment. French police conducted a search warrant in the cyclist’s Tarbes hotel room and seized what was described as “banned medicines,” according to published reports.

Nevado, 27, is the second rider to be thrown out of the Tour following countryman Manuel Beltran, who was competing with an Italian team. It was less than a week ago that Beltran also tested positive for EPO.

Neither should expect help to come out of their union dues. “I just can’t understand when these guys are going to learn,” International Cycling Union president Pat McQuaid said to reporters. “If the ‘B’ sample is positive, then all I can say is the guy’s a fool. The net is closing in.”

Before the positive test, Nevado was holding on to the 19th position in the race.